I dont think Hatton is on the decline, he just isnt fighting bums anymore.

I disagree. Hatton hasn't fought to his best ability since the Tzyu fight, his best performance btween the Tzyu and Lazcano fight was his bout with Castillo. I thought that last night against Lazcano, Ricky showed what he hasn't shown in a long time: speed, power, jab, stamina, (a little) head movement and most importantly; un-predictability. In his previous 5 fights he has shown bits of that but never all of it. In recent years his style has been predictable he would clinch his opponent then go for the left-hook to the body. Last night he used far less clinching and he showed a wind range of punches: jabs, upper-cuts, right-hooks and left-hooks. He used the jab a lot more to set up Lazcano for the big flurry of punches.
I think if Hatton had fought like he did last night again Mayweather he would still have been KO'd but one thing I do think would have been different was the score card. I think in the Mayweather fight the judges had it about 8-2 rounds in favour of Floyd. If Ricky had turned in a performance like he did last night it could have been nearer to 6-4 rounds in favour of Floyd but a lot closer none the less. Although Hatton would probably have been KO'd he would probably not have been as clearly outboxed.

 

Hatton was never that great fullstop. His greatest accomplishment was a questionable win over Kostya Tszyu in Tszyu's last fight as a boxer, which brought Hatton into the lower top10 pfp. His 2 stints at a higher division were monumental failures. 1 being a controversial win against a top 10 guy where he was knocked down and they didn't count it, and where he was being dominated in the championship rounds. The other a 10th round knockout in a 1-sided loss against the Champ.

add to that his balooning between fights which clearly doesn't help his cause.

 

How I saw the fight last night:

Lazcano saw this as his last chance to shine, and went in there to fight. People on here may discredit him as a washed up bum, but you cannot deny he was there to prove a point.

Despite what I've read on here from some of the Hatton haters on this forum and the comments pages, Lazcano was doing a hell of a lot of tying up and clinching and attempted head rubbing which went unpunished. I have seen no criticism of that.

He did unsettle Hatton with some low looking blows in the 8th where he blatantly winded Hatton, but nearly got his head taken off towards the end of that round.

As for the 10th round, holding someone's head down and bashing them does not constitute putting someone on the verge of a KO. And when sent to separate corners, Lazcano's legs were blatantly like jelly, whilst Ricky Hattons was bobbing on his toes in the opposite corner. When the ref turned round he pointed out his loose lace.

So to recap, Lazcano had 2 moments in the entire fight, but got battered for the rest of the fight. Do I detect a slight bias in here?

 

:good

 

nearly out atsch 12 rounds to 0 - Hatton

 

Hatton was very gifted physically... I think he still has a lot of that natural quickness, strength and toughness that allowed him to fight in his style for the past few years and fight those tough fights he had so many of. But if he wants to continue to fight at the top level he needs to LEARN and adjust his style like people such as Bernard Hopkins did as their bodies changed on them.

 

the fact he won every round against yet anoher semi-retired and over the hill fighter does not change the fact he was given a break when hurt.